#welsh mythology retelling

[gingersnaptaff]

Hello, bringing this to u on this fine Sunday morning because I was bored on the bus coming to work. Pls send prayers for me cuz I'm working for seven hours in the Christmas rush. (Ew.)

This is Gwyn after Llacheu's birth because you all love him - namely @gwalch-mei - so I wanted to show u his and Gwyn's first meeting. (Also Dylan content too for @dullyn )

[gawrkin]

could you tell me about arthur's bastard (and legitimate) children?

(Word of Caution: For various reasons, including inaccessibility of source materials, I am not fully read up on all the details of the source materials involving the following characters. Nor am I aware of all known children of Arthur. Therefore, I should advice discretion)

First are the two major sons, both of whom changed legitimacies as the legend evolved:

Mordred - Originally a nephew by Arthur's full sister Anna/Morgause in Historia Regum Britanniae, Mordred is later converted into Arthur's bastard son, conceived incestuously, in Vulgate Cycle. The Welsh Dream of Rhonabwy suggests that Mordred was fostered by Arthur (a normal practice of both Romans and Celts)

Loholt/Ilinot - First appeared in Erec and Enide and apparently based on the Welsh character of Llacheu, Loholt was originally a Legitimate son of Arthur by Guinevere in Perlesvaus and the German Tradition. But Vulgate Cycle alters this so that Loholt is instead another bastard son by a certain Lisanor prior to Arthur's marriage to Guinevere.

Next are the ones with Unknown Mothers (and thus of ambiguous legitimacy and relationship to Guinevere):

Amr/Amhar - Son of Arthur mentioned in Historum Brittonum as being killed by Arthur himself. His grave is described as naturally changing size with every look, implying supernatural influence. He is also mentioned in the Welsh Geraint, as one of Arthur's Four Chamberlains

Gwydre - Son of Arthur mentioned only in Culhwch and Olwen. He is killed by Twrch Trwyth alongside two maternal uncles of Arthur.

Llacheu - The most celebrated of the Welsh sons of Arthur, with mentions in Pa Gur, The Welsh Triads and other Welsh Poetic Material. Is usually identified with Loholt, with the Welsh adaptation of Perlesvaus - Y Seint Grail - being the most notable in that regard.

Duran - Son of Arthur only found in a 15th Century Welsh Manuscript, where he is said to have perished during the Battle of Camlann

Archfedd - Daughter of Arthur, found in the Welsh genealogical work Bonedd Y Saint, where she is said to have married Llawfrodedd, one of Arthur's warriors, and bore two children, Efadier and Gwrial

Apollonius, Iron and Hilde - Two sons and a daughter found in the 13th Century Icelandic Thidrekssaga.

Aristes - Son of Arthur mentioned in the Old Norse Mottuls saga

Legitimate Children of Arthur (Although not necessarily Guinevere's children)

Samson the Fair and Grega - Son and Daughter of Arthur by his wife, Queen Silvia. Both found in the Norse Samson saga fraga

Adeluf III, Morgan the Black and Patrick the Red - Three sons of Arthur, from Eldest to Youngest, from Rauf de Boun's 14th century chronicle, Petit Brut. Presumbly, sons of Queen Guinevere, but Rauf de Boun fails to mention the name of Arthur's wife. However, Adeluf III is made heir and assumes the Throne of England whilst Patrick and Morgan are given sizable inheritances in the form of Scotland and Wales. (Note: Wikipedia claims they're Arthur's sons by a fairy queen, but the cited source does not say so. Link to source HERE)

Seleucia - Daughter of Arthur by his first wife, Liscanor (Lisanor), in Jorge Ferreira de Vasconcelos' 16th century Portugese novel Memorial das Proezas da Segunda Tavola Redonda. (*This technically makes her the full sister of Lisanor!Loholt) She married Arthur's successor, Sagramor Constantino (a combination of Sir Sagramore and Constantine, son of Cador) and may have even bore a daughter, Princess Licorida

Huncamunca - Daughter of Arthur and his wife, Queen Dollalolla, from Henry Fielding's 1730 Tom Thumb play

Melora - Daughter of Arthur and Guinevere from the Irish romance Eachtra Mhelóra agus Orlando. One of the more well-known daughters of Arthur and one of the very few warrior women in Arthuriana.

Merevie/Smerbe/Smerviemore - Son of Arthur by his second marriage to a french princess, Elizabeth. Figures primarily in the genealogical legends of Scottish Clan Campbell, who claim descent from Arthur through Smervie.

Rowland, Ellen and Two unnamed older brothers - Certain versions of the Ballad of Childe Rowland and Burd Ellen portray them as the sons and daughter of Arthur and Guinevere, apparently due to the mention of Merlin.

Tryphine's son and daughter - A certain mystery play collected by François-Marie Luzel in 1863 merges Saint Tryphine from the Conomor legend with aspects of Queen Guinevere, with the primary antagonist being the lady's brother Kervoura. The two children are unnamed, but the son goes by an alias, "the Malouin"

Iduna - Daughter of Arthur and Guinevere from Edgar (1839), by Adolph Schutt

Blandine - Daughter of Arthur and Guinevere from Les Chevaliers de la Table Ronde (1937), by Jean Cocteau

Bastard Children of Arthur:

Kyduan/Cydfan - Son of Arthur by Eleich ferch Iaen. Mentioned in Culhwch and Olwen and Bonedd yr Arwyr

Arthur le Petit - Son of Arthur from Post-Vulgate, born of Arthur's deliberate rape of a daughter of Sir Tanas. Arthur le Petit serves as a "good" counterpart to Sir Mordred. He loyally serves his father incognito for many years and despises Lancelot's faction for causing the destruction of Logres. He is slain by Sir Bleoberis.

Tom a Lincoln - Eponymous hero of the 16th century romance Tom a Lincoln, by Richard Johnson. Son of Arthur by Angelica, a daughter of the Mayor of London. Fathers two additional characters, the Black Knight and the Faerie Knight.

Gyneth - Daughter of Arthur by a half-genie named Guendolen. From Walter Scott's The Bridal of Triermain (1813). A huntress whose Marriage competition results in the death of many knights including Vanoc, who is implied to be Merlin's son. As a result, Merlin puts her into an enchanted sleep for many centuries until her true love awakens her with a kiss.

And finally, those with a tenuous link to Arthuriana:

Nathalia - a supposed daughter of Arthur who accompanied St. Ursula according to De Sancta Ursula: De undecim milibus Virginum martirum (1183), by Herman Joseph

Baeddo - Wife of the Visigothic Spanish king Reccared. Claimed to be a daughter of Arthur by Compendio Historial, by Esteban de Garibay y Zamalloa

Tortolina - a daughter of Arthur according to Pantochronachanon (1652), by Thomas Urquhart

*(Additional Source link about the Daughters of King Arthur: HERE)

[queer-ragnelle]

I just found an Owain retelling I haven’t gotten my hands on just yet but I’m sorry for the feral woman I’ll become when I do.

[god-of-annwn]

We’ve progressed past the point of Greek mythology retellings, now its time for Welsh mythology retellings

[pomefioredove]

so yesterday I theorized that the fae in twst could be french, possibly breton inspiration, and was mercifully corrected by @tresgansosenunabrigo who actually knows things about french folklore unlike meee

we had a really good talk, which breathed life into a thought of mine about Briar Valley being parallel to ancient Irish mythology, that I had brushed off as insane months ago

some of the following is an old essay that I wrote, that I now find very very... um, incomplete at best, incorrect at worst. I've done my best to put out something more accurate, relevant, and interesting

but, for the sake of this essay: this is only for speculative purposes in the context of fiction. I am only drawing small parallels, and this is not a theory. I am not a teacher. I am not claiming to know everything. I'm just some guy who reads

a brief forward:

my credentials are "religious studies major" and not much else. I am not Irish, nor am I pagan, and my knowledge/study in Irish mythology is very secondary to Catholicism. I have been close to and spoken to a handful of experts within the field but am not one myself.

furthermore, I look to old/historical sources for knowledge, and reject eclectic and appropriative wiccan ideas. this has been a seven year long labor of love, but I'm still not perfect, and continue to sift through my sources every day. The misinformation that eclectics have created about Irish mythology have made way into books, into articles, into common belief, so it is, in fact very difficult not to internalize misinformation. I'm trying </3

and I am begging anyone in this field to correct any mistakes I make.

additionally I've only read a little bit of book 7 so I may be totally crazy. this is just a speculative piece, after all.

a glossary of knowledge:

for the purpose of this essay, I may use "fae" as an umbrella term, which includes pixies, medieval French fae, the aos sí, and the Tuatha de Danann*

*please note that the Tuatha de were gods in their original sources, but were changed to fairies, other supernatural beings, and occasionally kings in later Catholicized retellings.

I will be focusing most on ancient beliefs, with vague mentions of medieval/post-Catholicism ones. Catholicism is extremely important in the context of these stories, as it was the Catholic monks who preserved them in written form, and it's quite literally impossible not to mention. it's had a huge influence.

etc.

when talking about folklore, mythology, or religion, it's literally impossible to draw definite lines. it's why I hate when people say "well this religion stole this thing!" because religions intermingle, they share, they swap, they sometimes even meld with each other into something unique. ever-changing and different and the same. the Romans adopted their beliefs from the Greeks, and they shared gods with the Gauls, and then Christianity used the image of Jupiter as God. a big part of being a history major is understanding how to draw connections between cultures and peoples.

Admittedly, I am not familiar with the French idea of fae. I know that it is medieval. post-Christianity. it's a fairly loose term that denotes a "magical woman, skilled with words, herbs and stones" (via Wikipedia) and not much else. this is relevant to the Sleeping Beauty story, in which all the fairies are women. Maleficent's guards are not fairies, but ghouls (is that the right word?). I couldn't tell you the exact origin of French fairies, but it's not far-fetched to say they could have had "Celtic"* influence

*in reference to more than one culture in this context. scottish, manx, welsh, irish, etc

It is, perhaps, more important to add that French fairies are romantic figures in nature. very... fairy-tale esque. characters such as the fairy godmother and the good fairies in Perrault's version of Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty are good examples of this.

TWST fae... are... a little different. obviously. while it may be easy to simply argue that "it's twisted, so they're darker" or "Briar Valley is based off Maleficent's domain so of course it's dark", it's implied (and shown!) that good entities come from Briar Valley, too. pixies exist in TWST, for example. then there are the good fairies from Sleeping Beauty, which have to exist alongside Maleficent in the canon of TWST. The fae here are layered, much more so than in their sources.

This is where I start seeing shit.

war, weapons, and invasion

When speculating on the influence of French folklore in Briar Valley, I was told that "war" is a rather uncommon thing in their stories. Invasion is, of course, an imperative theme in Briar Valley history, in Lilia's background, and in book 7 as a whole. So. I get thinking.

The war between the fae and the humans carries significant parallels to the war between the Tuatha de Danann and the humans in the Lebor Gabála Érenn, the Book of Invasions, wherein the "fae" and the humans warred over land and resources until the former were driven out of Ireland and the humans became the ancestors of the modern Irish. And by "parallels" I mean this exact thing happens. THE EXACT THING. The Book of Invasions was literally the first thing I thought about when in Lilia's dream.

War is, of course, a recurring theme in Irish mythology. Ná Morríghan is associated with war, there's that entire book of invasions, like, anything about Cú Chulainn, etc.

I also, very quickly, want to draw a comparison between Lilia's magearm and the four treasures of the Tuatha de Danann, which are described in literature such as the Lebor Gabála and Cath Maige Tuired (iirc). magical weaponry is a fairly common motif in various Celtic mythologies. in Irish mythology, it's the Spear of Lugh, and various swords, clubs, etc. The magearm just struck the same chord for me.

nature

I fear this is about to get very ~ohooo magical pagan connection to nature!~ please bear with me.

The mythology of Ireland is very, very, very tied to the land. You can still see this today, actually. Various natural formations- hills, islands, etc- have mythological names. Much like Olympus in Greek mythology, places mentioned in Irish mythological sources have real-world counterparts, such as Tech Duinn, the House of the Dead, being Bull Rock- a tiny island off the coast of Cork (cool post about that and the ancient Irish belief in death here). Trees had important religious, cultural, and linguistic (see: Ogham) connotations. Many of the Tuatha de had animalistic attributes and associations, such as Morríghan and crows. Even more were associated with fertility and agriculture, which was kind of a big deal. Symbols that which represent fertility, are rather common motifs (such as the Lia Fáil on the Hill of Tara, which I've read is theorized to be phallic).

That's not even mentioning the oceans, the cliffs, the forests, or the sidhe (a "fairy mounds", manmade or natural features that connect our world to the otherworld of Irish mythology).

At multiple points in Lilia's dream do we hear the fae talk about how important nature is to fae. I am unsure if this strong love for land is a theme in French folklore.

I also want to briefly point out that, in reputable sources, the "Celtic" day began at sunset. Darkness- night, winter, cold- were important to the ancient Irish, both in culture and in mythology. It's probable that their "New Year" began at Samhain (soh-wen), the holiday that celebrated the beginning of winter, to put it briefly. Here's a discussion post about this (and I sent this ask!!!!)

I just find the significance of darkness and night to hold some ground with the concept of "nocturnal fae" in TWST. "Night's blessing's", they say.

form

I also want to add, very quickly, that there are multiple different iterations of "fairies" in Irish mythology and folklore. The Tuatha de resemble humans. The modern aos sí are more mystical. The Fomorians (whom are or are not fairies, depending on who you ask?) are described as more animalistic and monstrous. The nature of fae in TWST is unclear, but they read, to me, as human-like with different abilities, different physical attributes, and a different connection to land and nature. Which is, in form, similar enough to the "fae" of Irish (and other Celtic) folklore.

Lilia

Head in hands. Shall we talk about the importance of the paternal figure in Irish mythology. I feel I have to.

I really really hate saying the word "fertility" so much because I start sounding like a Wiccan, I promise I'm going somewhere with this.

In the Nature segment, I briefly touched on the importance of fertility and the phallic symbol. I know that usually, when talking about ~fertility~ in reference to paganism, people are talking women/goddesses, but throughout my readings of Irish mythology, I've found that male fertility is just as important. More specifically, fatherhood. I, unfortunately, couldn't find much input on this, but I think it's safe to say that The Dagda, for example, is considered an important father figure and is associated with fatherhood.

It's just important.

Head in hands again. Now let's talk about fostering. Fosterage was, by most sources, a really big thing in ancient Ireland. Raising someone else's child, including that of your enemy, was not only acceptable, not only common, but traditional. And the themes of fosterage exist in the mythos, too- in Tóraigheacht Dhiarmada agus Ghráinne, the demi-god Diarmuid was fostered by Aengus Og. Aengus Og was also fostered. Fosterage is a theme in Cú Chulainn's story, so on and so forth. The gods/fae/etc foster humans, they foster demi-gods, they foster other gods.

I wanted to mention both of these as important themes in both Irish mythology and Lilia's story because like. come onnn lol.

And One More Thing!!!

This isn't super relevant to this essay, I just like to bring it up: Lilia is vampiric? Well, there's vampires in Irish folklore (or close enough, anyway. the link gives a few different versions of the story and their origins). Some think that Abhartach was actually the true inspiration behind Bram Stoker's Dracula. I don't know how much credibility this theory has, I've read a few essays on it. I just think this is fun.

Silver

Much of what I said in Lilia could be said here, too. All I really want to bring up is the symbolism of acorns. I've mentioned that certain trees had mythological connections, and the oak tree was. Um. A big one. It's a recurring theme, past, and present. Even the "Celtic Tree of Life" is an oak. I don't know, it's just important.

I could also draw some pretty stark comparisons between the story of Fionn mac Cumhaill, a heroic figure in Irish Mythology, and Silver, but that would be a bit much.

Sebek

Half-god and half-human heroes, fae, whatever etc are very much present and important in Irish mythology. That's all I can think of for now.

Malleus

I suppose I could, if I tried very hard, find something to say about Malleus, but this is where the ~medieval Europe~ starts to seep in. I am unaware of any dragons or dragonlike creatures in Irish, or other Celtic, myth.

Nobility is, however, a major theme in Irish mythology. There are many rules, there are laws, there are gods and goddesses of sovereignty, it's huge, and sort of parallels Diasomnia's structure, in a strange way. I'd need to know how their housewarden is chosen, lmao.

conclusion

Do I think the TWST writers have an intimate knowledge of ancient Irish mythology and are purposefully making allusions to drive me insane specifically? no. obviously not. is it possible that these myths have influenced the general idea of fae, and thus were included in the writing process unconsciously? yes. absolutely!

Ultimately, this is more of a thought exercise and an analysis than a theory. Take it as you will.

so on and so forth.

[gwynrieldreams]

[MASTERLIST]

Greek Mythology in the Maasverse

Greek Influences pt 1: Throne of Glass

Greek Influences pt 2 i: ACOTAR

Greek Influences pt 2 ii: ACOTAR

Greek Influences pt 3 i: Crescent City

Greek Influences pt 3 ii: Crescent City

Acotar: An Eros and Psyche Retelling

The Archeron sisters and their connection to triple deities in greek mythology

The Drop from Crescent City and its connection to the Eleusinian Mysteries, one of the most famous rites in ancient Greece.

Theories

Dusk Court Theory/Gwyn is Starborn pt 1: Similarities with Bryce

Dusk Court Theory/Gwyn is Starborn pt 2: Connection to Gwydion

Mating bond - Eugenics?

How Gwynriel and Elucien mirror Quinlar and Satharion

Amren and Fury Axtar Parallels

Gwynriel

Azriel Bonus Chapter Analysis pt 1: Literary devices

Azriel Bonus Chapter Analysis pt 2: Mating Language

More reasons why I believe Gwynriel is endgame

Azriel's Shadows Analysis pt 1

Azriel's Shadows Analysis pt 2

Reasons why I believe the gwynriel book will be Gwyn-centered

Debunking the "evil" Gwyn theory

Gwyn is not a child

A thing of secret lovely beauty ~ Analysis

Gwyn and Rhysand Parallels

Elucien

Elain - Lucien - Azriel: Parallels to Greek and Welsh Myths

Elucien vs E/riel pt 1: Why Lucien is the better choice for Elain

Elucien vs E/riel pt 2: Why elucien makes more sense from a narrative standpoint

Defending Lucien Vanserra

Elriel - Cheating trope

The Elucien Bond - The word thread(s) - Debunking that it's a spell

Nesta/Valkyries

ACOSF: A Taming of the Shrew Retelling

Why Emerie wasn't the only one worthy to win the Blood Rite.

Translations in Greek

All acotar and crescent city bonus chapters translated in greek

My fanarts

Gwynriel

Fun Posts

Gwynriel/Elucien Bingo Cards

Gwyneth Berdara High Lady of Dusk Court Headcanon: Gwydion Dress

Gwyneth Berdara Priestess, Water~Nymph

Biblically accurate Gwyn

Gwyn Berdara Aesthetic

Colour Analysis: ACOTAR Pt 1 Pt 2

Colour Analysis: Throne of Glass Pt 1 Pt 2

Colour Analysis: Crescent City Pt 1 Pt 2

The ACOTAR girlies in formal dresses

Nails for the ACOTAR girlies

Nails for the TOG girlies

Nails for the CC girlies

Nails for each ACOTAR Court

Feysand wedding ring

Acotar girlies wedding rings

Rowaelin wedding rings

Day Court is inspired by Ancient Egypt headcanon

[dailydemonspotlight]

Wild Hunt - Day 127

Race: Night

Alignment: Neutral-Chaos

Evolves into Abaddon [SMT IV, Level 58]

October 15th, 2024

While we've already talked about Dormarth, we haven't touched upon where this hound comes from- that being the Wild Hunt, a common mythological staple in many European mythologies. Of course, the hunt appears in Celtic myth, but it also appears all the same in many other areas, including Slavic areas, Norse myth, and much more; The concept is ultimately timeless, with constant references, and is intrinsically linked to Halloween in many European places- after all, as the time of spirits draws near, the ghosts shall come out for one last hunt, even until the end of time. I wonder if they know the next hunt is scheduled for next year.

The Wild Hunt, as said above, is a common motif throughout many different European mythologies and religions, not just the Norse ones that most people are familiar with. While it does roughly share similar origins in most retellings, as the Scandanavian term for it calls it 'Odin's hunt,' the Wild Hunt does vary greatly across regions in forms of its leaders and popular figures. Our first source for the Wild Hunt's existence is actually one of the earliest pieces of Anglo-Saxon literature we know of, called the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Dating back to the 1100's AD, the text mentions the Wild Hunt, though only scantly- however, it points to the fact that this concept has existed for thousands of years! It may even date earlier than that, as a matter of fact- as purported by Jacob Grimm (a man... rather famous for his unreliability, granted, but it is an interesting theory,) the idea of the Wild Hunt may have its roots in pre-Christian Norse mythology, and could have been connected to a darker side of Odin.

But, I hear you asking, what even is the Wild Hunt? While the specifics change from story to story, the general concept is the same- on a specific date range, typically around Autumn or Winter, a group of spirits would emerge from the underworld (changing based on the mythology, of course,) to perform a great hunt, becoming a massive wind of ghosts that would sweep up anybody unlucky enough to be outside at the time and would end up bringing them to an early grave (or just someplace else) to join the hunt again. This was primarily inspired by the howling winds of late night Autumn, with the cause now attributed to this supernatural event.

Interestingly, the common leader of this phenomenon was typically a God- most of the time, a deity in charge of the hunt would be leading the metaphorical (and literal) pack, such as Odin or, in the case of the Welsh version of this myth that we went over in the Dormarth analysis, Gwyn ap Nudd, the Lord of the Dead. It could also be led by some less deific figures, of course, but it was mostly deities and characters with high relevance and power in the mythos. A great hunting party does need a great leader, after all. Possibly the funniest version of this, though, is recounted in Grimm's paper on it, wherein a hunter known as Hans von Hackelnberg led the hunt- a man who died to, and I shit you not, accidentally stabbing himself on a boar's tusk and dying from the sickness it caused. Somehow, his passion for hunting was so great that, even in death, he refused to go to heaven, instead moving to create the Wild Hunt.

Now, in terms of design in SMT, the Wild Hunt is about as accurate as you can get- a howling wind of several ghosts accompanied by horses and dogs. Funny enough, the dog might actually be a reference to Dormarth? The fact you can have a Wild Hunt and a Dormarth in the same party might indicate that there's two, but I dunno, I'm just talking out of my ass. Still, it's a fun and effective design that captures its essence perfectly. I have no idea why it evolves into Abaddon, though.

[darabeatha]

Basic about my muses in no specific order (part 1-?):

ㅤA.sclepius: ㅤ(source: Greek mythology.) Snek doctor; fucked up with the gods and found out (got struck DEAD with lighting from zeus bc he was messing around too much with the whole bringing to life dead people). Grouchy. Hates apollo. Don't come to him for a 'simple' flu, he's here for more interesting diseases.

ㅤA.shwatthama: ㅤ(source: Indian epic Mahabharata) warrior who was born with a blessing (gem on his forehead) that would grant him something close to immortality but who by a moment of grief and rage over the unjust death of his father, acts upon it and gets cursed with immortality so he's just wandering around with a wound that will never heal.

ㅤConstantine XI: ㅤ(Source: history, Europe) last Byzantine emperor / or also considered the last Roman emperor, as Byzantine emperors considered themselves as Roman emperors in direct succession from Augustus) the fall of Constantinople (the capital of the roman empire he ruled) marked the end of an era (the medieval period). He is regarded as the emperor who fought alongside his soldiers to the last breath and perished during battle. Historical based + including the chivalrous tales surrounding his figure as the emperor who fought alongside his people as well as the famous story of the 'marble emperor' in which it details how he did not die but was saved by an angel who turned him into a marble statue, waiting for a call to reconquer his old city and rebuild his fallen empire.

ㅤA.rthur P.endragon: ㅤ(source: Welsh folklore + the retelling of Arthur as king of Britain) You probably all have some semblance of the tales of king Arthur so I won't detail much about his history. Carries the weight of hope across universes. This Arthur is the image of the ideals of a knight in shining armor that you often see coming from tales in books. A man who became distant and who carries the shattered pieces of an unattainable honor, calm yet playful. Sacrificed everything for his kingdom to the point where he ignored his own humanity to become more of an instrument than a person. Currently, he is on a fight to save the world.

ㅤJ.ason: ㅤ(Source: Greek mythology, from the Argonautica) The captain of the argo and leader of the Argonauts (Jason's crew consisting of a bunch of different heroes he recruited from all over the place like Heracles, Achilles' dad, Orpheus, Atalanta, Asclepius, Medea, Castor and Pollux etc etc) basically his story is the og a.vengers (but better). Jason is the purest definition of an 'epic's hero' as well as one of the most human characters in greek mythology (alongside Odysseus who is, fun fact, his cousin!) as he possesses great leadership and ambition yet is in the same sentence, a coward with bouts of depressive/hopeless episodes who will run away first like a headless chicken as soon as the potatoes start to boil / HIS life is at risk. The definition of 'wow! this guy is actually pretty cool??' and 3 seconds after "actually, this guy sucks a.ss!"

[pyjamacryptid]

Wait aren’t Morgana and Arthur siblings

Yes, they are! Well. No but yes.

At least, they definitely are siblings in BBC Merlin’s canon. They share Uther as a father, which makes them half-siblings. They’re often half-siblings in many variations and retellings, too.

But they weren’t always, just like how Morgana wasn’t always an antagonist/villain. Originally, she was first a healer to Arthur and was one of nine sisters of Avalon (though her true origin likely dates back farther than arthuriana and was inspired by welsh mythology/folklore. You can blame Ol Geoff of Monmouth)

It was later on, in some variations, that she was re-established as Arthur’s half-sister and a morally-grey antagonist. (She was also Merlin’s apprentice in some of these versions too lol)

When it comes to more modern retellings, her portrayal’s become very conflated with her full sister’s depictions in legend - that full sister being Morgause. Basically, creators of modern retellings were like “omfg too many characters and the names of these two sound the same anyway, and people recognise morgan/morgana more than they do morgause… Splice them, Andy.”

“On it, boss.”

So, TLDR; the answer is: yes. But not always. Sometimes. It depends LOL

[gingersnaptaff]

*waves* going to sleep because work was grim, disgusting, awful, a war crime, so pls send asks about anything u want!

Also some more Gwyn After She's Given Birth for u all:

[ladydeath-vanserra]

Welsh!Night Court + Welsh Mythology

Cŵn Annwn: spectral hounds of Annwn, the otherworld of Welsh myth, associated with Arawn or Gwyn ap Nudd in the Wild Hunt

Morgens: Welsh + Breton water spirits that drown men. Has been compared to sirens/mermaids without fishtails. The mari-morgans, who were well-versed in evil spells, would drag young men underwater and the men would never be seen again

Cyhyraeth: ghostly spirit in Welsh mythology, a disembodied moaning voice that sounds before a person's death; similar to the Iriah Banshee. The noise is said to be "doleful and disagreeable", like the groans and sighs of someone deathly ill, and to sound three times (growing weaker and fainter each time) as a threefold warning before the person expires

Ceffyl Dŵr: a water horse in Welsh Mythology, similar to the Kelpie or Púca. They inhabit mostly mountain pools, waterfalls or seashores. Believed to be a spirit assuming the shape of a black or gret horse w a white mane. It will carry its rider a great distance or fly into the sky, evaporate into mist and then drop the rider to their death

The Wild Hunt: Gwyn ap Nudd was depicted as a wild huntsman riding a demon horse who hunts souls at night along with a pack of white-bodied and red-eared 'dogs of hell'. In Arthurian legends, he is the king of the Underworld who makes sure that the imprisoned devils do not destroy human souls

🤌🏻🤌🏻🤌🏻 the POTENTIAL. the IMAGE of such a beautiful and colorful (and spooky) mythology that could be brought to life in the night court. with SJM going for a "Haides and Persephone" retelling, it'd be so interesting to see various forms of creatures or fae that are related to death or death omens or are just extremely dangerous that can, u know, cause death lmao

[queer-ragnelle]

hiii do you have any favorite mythical creatures in arthurian legend? specifically sentient beings who are like humans but also not. and do you happen to know if there's a glossary/dictionary of creatures in arthurian/welsh/irish mythology in particular?

Hello!

My favorite mythical creature would be the Questing Beast/Glatisant. It's not even close. She's just the freakiest!! Most people know her from the Vulgate or Le Morte d'Arthur, but I also like her in La Tavola Ritonda and Perlesvaus. She pops up in several retellings, but I think she's vastly underutilized which is a tragedy. She could be so much scarier! Gotta do everything myself... Another favorite animalistic creature is Twrch Trwyth, the boar from the Mabinogion.

As for more human-like examples, I have many. The Ladies of the Lake, Sir Galehaut and other giants, Sir Gromer Somer Joure, the Green Knight. I don't have a creature-specific glossary, but there's The Arthurian Name Dictionary, which includes not only people but creatures and places.

What I do have is a ton of essays and a few books about my favorite characters (and their archetypes). I'll list them in alphabetical order.

Culhwch & Olwen - Giants, Boar-hunts, Barbering Masculinity by Sarah Sheehan

Culhwch & Olwen - Welsh Giants & Social Identity by Lisa Leblanc

Disenchanting Gromer Somer Joure by Karen Hunter Trimnell

Idea of The Green Knight by Lawrence Besserman

Monster Relics - Giant, Archangel, Mont Saint Michel in Alliterative Morte Arthure by Christopher Lee Pipkin

Nature & the Inner Man in SGATGK by William F. Woods

Outsiders - The Humanity & Inhumanity of Giants by Sylvia Huot

Questing Beast & Ruin of Logres in Post-Vulgate by Antonio L. Furtado

Questing Beast Noise of Adventure by Adam Spellmire

Regional Identity in SGATGK by Rhonda Knight

Shifting Skin - Passing as Human, Passing as Fay in SGATGK by Lariss a Tracy

The Law of the Lake - Malory's Sovereign Lady by Amy S. Kaufman

What Kind of Animal is the Questing Beast?

Sorry I don't have a glossary of Arthurian creatures to share. I'd love one too, honestly! But I gave you a bunch of stuff to read, so that will have to suffice. Take care!

[adarkrainbow]

Dubois' bibliography: Fairy books (1)

I talked a LOT before of Pierre Dubois, his famous "Fairy/Elf/Lutin Encyclopedias", his collections of fairytales, and so forth and so on. And yes we have to agree that he has a very free, inventive, poetic style when it comes to retelling the various myths and legends surrounding the fair folk and other supernatural beings. As such, while his books are very entertaining and very beautiful, they are not to be used as a serious research material and can be quite misleading between Dubois' personal inventions, crafted genealogies and fictional history of "Elfland"...

BUT the wonderful and very pleasant thing with Dubois is that at the end of each of his Encylopedias he leaves us with a complete bibliography of all the books he used when writing them. I have rarely stumbled upon such complete bibliographies about the "fair folk", "good neighbor", petit peuple" and so forth, and while it goes a bit beyond what this blog is about (fairy tales proper), I still thought of sharing some of it here because my Dubois posts were all here.

Now, I can't share the entirety of the bibliography because it would be too big. However what I will share is all the books Dubois placed in his bibliography... in English. Indeed, Dubois reads the English and as such a good chunk of his bibliography is English-speaking (there are also some Spanish, Italian and German books in his lists). As such, if you are an English speaker you can easily go check these texts. (Note, this comes from his bibliography of his "Encyclopedia of Fairies", so that we stay within the "fairy tale" theme of this blog)

Tolkien's On Fairy-Stories

Beatrice Phillports, Mermaids

Richard Carrington, Mermaids and Mastodons

Gwen Benwell and Arthur Waugh, Sea Enchantress

The Lost Gods of England, Brian Branston

Wilfrid Bonser, A bibliography of folklore

Masaharu Anesaki, Japanese Mythology (also known as the History of Japanese Religion)

F. J. Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads

Moncure Daniel Conway, Demonology and Devil Lore

T. C. Croker, Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland

N. Belfield Dennys, The Folklore of China [The book has the very unfortunate subtitles "and its affinities with that the Aryan and Semitic races", but it was written in the 19th century so...)

David Crockett Graham, Songs and Stories of the Ch'uan Miao

Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology

P. Kennedy, Legendary Fictions of the Irish Celts

John Rhys, Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx

Sir George Webb Dasent's translation of Popular Tales from the Norse

The Norse Myths (as rewriten by Crossley)

Delaporte Press' Great Swedish Fairy Tales, illustrated by John Bauer

Inger and Edgar Parn d'Aulaire, D'Aulaire's Trolls (also known as D'Aulaire's Book of Trolls)

The Florence Ekstrand edition of Theodore Kittelsen's Norvegian Trolls and Other Tales

G. Fox, The Archaeology of the Cambridge Region

Edward L. Gardner, Fairies

M. Geoffrey Hodson, The Kingdom of the Gods

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Coming of the Fairies

Walter Burkert, Ancient Mystery Cults

Sabine Baring-Gould, Curious Myths of the Middle Age

[literary-illuminati]

Book Review 59 – Spear by Nicola Griffith

So after loudly complaining about this year’s Hugo nominations enough, it was recommended I try using the World Fantasy Awards shortlist as a reading list instead. Spear is the first result of that – I’d never heard of either it or Griffith as an author before, but the library helpfully had a copy with only a three-week hold. It was, well – unevenly paced and characterized, often beautifully written, a setting I’ve got an enduring fondness for, a bunch of things. But at the very least I’m not confused or annoyed that anyone would nominate this for a ‘best novel of the year’ award, so beating the Hugo’s!

The book’s Arthuriana, of a mythological and Early Medieval type. Specifically, it’s a queer retelling of the story of Sir Percival (Peretur here, the book makes an attempt to use Welsh names for most. Artos and Cei and so on) intermixed with celtic mythology (the Four Treasures of the Tuatha Dé Danann are stolen to be the Grail, Excalibur, the Stone the sword was in, and Peretur’s Spear). Also Peretur is a) a demigod raised from birth on soup and water drunk out of the Grail/Cauldron and b) a lesbian. The book follows her childhood, raised in the wilderness with only her mother and wildlife for company, how she eventually leaves her behind to fufil a dream of becoming one of the king’s companions, and the trials she undergoes to become accepted by them. The second half of the book then follows her falling in love with Nimune, accidentally breaking the geas that was hiding her mother and the cauldron from her father (a wrathful Tuatha Dé) the organizing of the grail quest and her, Lancelot, and Nimune going to kill her dad and retrieve the grail/cauldron. And then bury it away after lying to everyone that the queen had had a sip from it and wouldn’t be infertile anymore. Having thus doomed the kingdom, they set about enjoying their lives together.

So, queer early medieval Arthuriana retelling. Which on reflection probably seems like less of a natural/obvious combination to people who spend less time on tumblr than I do. The ‘Early Medieval’ part of that seems pretty carefully researched, and the book takes great joy in describing everyone’s panoply, situating the politics in a very specific post-Roman collapse politics and geography, and so on. In that sense reminds of Bernard Cromwell’s take on a ‘historicall’ Arthur in the same era (which I read far too young because my father had just left them lying around the house and still inform my default view of the genre.) The queerness is just presented to be taken as a given more than part of the actual plot – being a crossdressing lesbian causes Peretur exactly zero problems at any point, and Arthur/Lancelot/Guinevere are a loving polycule so actually it’s a net reduction in sexuality-related drama compared to the usual.

The basic conceit aside, the most striking thing about the book is easily the prose. It’s written in a kind of elevated, mythological or capital-R Romantic voice. There are passages that are legitimately quite beautiful, and just overall does a lot to sell the story as somewhere between chivalric romance and myth.

Otherwise – I pretty much adored the first half the book, covering our hero’s childhood and attempts to build a reputation that will earn her acceptance from the king’s court and a place at the round table. Peretur’s naivete and utter lack of understanding of politics form a nice contrast with her being, well, a superhuman demigod with magical wild empathy skills when it comes to everything else. The second half, on the other hand – I mean it just tries to pack in way too many plot points and too much lore in not nearly enough page count. The effect – one long procession of character revelations and things happening without preamble or fallout – fits the whole mythic style but, like, not in a good way.

Also since the whole happy ending is built around a central romance it’d help a lot if Nimune felt like more or a character and less of an exposition fairy. Peretur legitimately had more chemistry with Angharad-the-innkeepers-daughter from the second act. Also since it was how the book ended, the big choice to hide away the cauldron/grail and make sure neither king nor queen nor anyone else ever drinks from it is presented as this, like, considered and moral decision without ever touching on any of the massive hypocrisy inherent in it for ms. ‘grew up drinking from it every meal. But it’d corrupt and drive insane anyone else who did. For sure.’ was just deeply irksome to me.

Still, not at all a bad read. Maybe a bit style over substance, but it’s a good style and worn well.

[konu-d]

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It’s very interesting how stories of the ancient times get twisted to suit modern palates as if these ancient stories were not complex ways to teach history to the young in a hope to prevent said twisting and yet here we are anyways

And I don’t even mean just Ancient Greece, I’m talking about all of them; King Arthur was originally Welsh and there was no Round Table, most East Asian mythology is now mostly sexualized slop and even then Japanese mythology is the one most people acknowledge and then disregard Korean and Chinese myths, hell I had to listen to my own sibling explain to me why he thought the Filipino creation myth had a white guy as Bathala

It’s craaaaazy

Like listen, I get if you like your little retellings and spins on myths and epics but man, I wish people could read or make the effort to search for the source material

I wish people would read at all, actually; I’m seeing too many people agree with that one girl going “Books have too many paragraphs”